Portfolio Insights:“The TCU endowment comprises the long-term investment assets of the University. These assets are strategically invested by the chief investment officer and his staff under the direction of the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees. Total investments as of May 31, 2012, were about $1.2 billion. The TCU endowment is ranked 61st among the top college and university endowments in the United States. In Fiscal Year 2012, endowment income provided for 14.1 percent of the University’s operating expenses.” (Source)

1) Jason Safran is a Senior Investment Analyst for Texas Christian University’s Endowment. Jason is responsible for researching and evaluating investment opportunities across asset classes. Jason began his career as a Research Associate with John McStay Investment Counsel, an investment boutique. After business school, Jason joined Cimarron Asset Management, a Dallas-based institutional investment advisory firm that specialized in the management of relative-value portfolios. Following a merger, Jason continued managing relative-value portfolios for Smith Asset Management, L.P. Prior to joining Texas Christian University, Jason was a senior investment analyst for Texas Capital Bank. (Source)

2) Texas Christian University has a sustainability plan and includes sustainability in the campus master plan. Three advisory committees oversee sustainability efforts on campus, and a faculty member serves as a sustainability coordinator. The university purchases green products whenever possible, and many appliances are Energy Star rated. The university completed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Energy management systems and lighting sensors have been installed in all buildings, and the school encourages conservation through energy audits, competitions, and awareness campaigns. (Source)

3) Texas Christian University, a private campus in the middle of this onetime cattle town, has decided to raise tuition by 8.7 percent, to $16,300, for the next academic year, the biggest increase in the university’s 129-year history. (Source)

4) TCU’s endowment was valued at $1.559 billion at the start of FY2012, it ended at $1.469 billion. At the beginning of FY2012, TCU’s endowment fund totalled $1.191 billion, and saw $11 million in contributions during the year (down $8 million Y2Y). Net investment losses totalled $35 million, as compared to $191 million in gains the year before, leading to a year end fund balance of $1.110 billion. (Source)

5) The TCU Endowment Fund has been nationally recognized as one of the best-managed institutional investors. As of June 2010, the endowment’s long-term performance record was better than 80 percent of all of its peer institutions, according to Northern Trust Company rankings for 3-, 5- and 10-year periods. TCU’s endowment was named “Non-Profit Investor of the Year” by Alternative Investor News in 2008 and nominated for “Large Endowment of the Year” by Institutional Investor in 2009. (Source)

About Richard C. Wilson

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